ARTICLES ABOUT CONSUMER CONFIDENCE BY DATE - PAGE 2

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand consumer confidence was marginally softer in March but consumers remained strongly positive buoyed by the cheery economic outlook despite the prospect of higher interest rates, a survey showed on Friday. The ANZ-Roy Morgan consumer confidence index dipped to 132~ from 133 in February. The index touched a seven year high in January. A reading above 100 shows optimism, while below indicates pessimism. ANZ said sentiment was holding firm in the face of likely rate rises with stronger house prices, a better labor market, and reasonable income growth boosting consumers.

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian consumer sentiment fell for a fourth successive month in March as households worried about the economic outlook and their job security, with pessimists now outnumbering optimists, a survey showed. The index of consumer sentiment, compiled by the Melbourne Institute and Westpac Bank , fell a seasonally adjusted 0.7 percent in March from February, when it had fallen by 3.0 percent. The index reading of 99.5 was the lowest since May last year, and it was down 10.0 percent over the past 12 months.

* Gains strongest in 30-year bond * Focus on weak consumer confidence * Traders shrug off sunny housing price report By Michael Connor NEW YORK, Feb 25 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasuries' prices rose on Tuesday as traders focused on a drop in U.S. consumer confidence and discounted stronger-than-expected data showing U.S. home prices last year climbed the most since 2005. Gains were biggest in 30-year Treasury bonds. After falling on Monday, the issue was up 26/32 of a point in price after release of The Conference Board's index of consumer confidence, which showed a disappointing drop in February.

(Reuters) - U.S. home price gains slowed in December, according to a closely watched housing survey on Tuesday that underscored a loss of momentum in the housing recovery, while consumer confidence drifted lower this month. The S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index rose a seasonally adjusted 0.8 percent in December, down from a 0.9 percent rise in November. For the 12 months to December, prices were up 13.4 percent, below the peak of 13.7 percent in November and the first decline in the rate of change since June.

MEXICO CITY, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Paper products company Kimberly-Clark de Mexico said on Thursday its fourth-quarter profit fell 8 percent after heavy discounts failed to win over anxious Mexican consumers. Kimber, a subsidiary of U.S.-based Kimberly-Clark Corp , said in a statement that profit in the three months to the end of December was 1.12 billion pesos compared with 1.22 billion a year ago. Revenue in the quarter declined 6 percent to 7.26 billion pesos. Consumer confidence in Latin America's No. 2 economy fell to its lowest level in more than two and a half years in December, according to official data.

BEIJING, Jan 20 (Reuters) - A Chinese court sentenced a man to life in prison on Monday for poisoning frozen dumplings more than six years ago at the plant where he worked, making ill four Chinese and nine Japanese consumers and further straining ties between the two countries. The court in the northern city of Shijiazhuang found Lu Yueting, 39, guilty of adding dangerous substances to food, the official Xinhua news agency reported. Lu, who worked at the Tianyang Food Plant, hoped he could "attract the attention of his managers in order to boost his salary" by injecting insecticide into the frozen dumplings with syringes, Xinhua reported, based on court proceedings.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese consumer confidence worsened in December, a Cabinet Office survey showed on Friday, in a possible sign of wariness towards a sales tax hike in April. The survey's sentiment index for general households, which includes views on incomes and jobs, was 41.3 in December, down from 42.5 in November. A reading below 50 suggests consumer pessimism. The Cabinet Office cut its assessment of consumer confidence, saying it is stalling. (Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by Shinichi Saoshiro)